ROCKFORD, Ill. (WTVO) — Laura Kane’s 14-year-old son, Zachary, committed suicide in 2018. Shortly after his death, she was let go from her job.
Today, she has successfully championed a law to make sure others don’t go through the same struggle.
“It was devastating to lose my son,” Kane said. “But then to lose my source of income to provide for my kids on top of it, it was like, ‘what do I do?'”
Kane says she experienced panic attacks at work in the wake of her son’s passing. “In my experience, the loss was just way too traumatic,” said Kane, adding that the attacks impaired her ability to perform her job duties and eventually lead to her being let go.
After forming the non-profit Marshmallow’s Hope in Zachary’s honor, Kane quickly learned that she wasn’t the only parent suffering from the same experience. She decided to help write a bill, now known as the Zachary’s Parent Protection Act, which goes into effect in 2024.
The bill requires certain employers to offer up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to parents who lose a child to suicide or homicide. It’s the first law of it’s kind in the country.
“It makes Illinois a best-practice state because the law doesn’t exist elsewhere,” Kane said. “We’re the very first state to actually enact it into law.”
However, Kane doesn’t plan to stop at home. “I really won’t give up until I see it implemented in every state,” she said.
Kane is now taking her campaign to Washington in hopes of creating a federal law. She says her persistence comes from Zachary and the healing she gets through advocacy.
“There’s something to be said for healing through helping other people,” said Kane. “There’s so much like bittersweetness with it. You know, I think about it and I want to cry, but I also want to cry like tears of happiness to know that we did this because of him. To make sure that families don’t have to go through this.”
To learn more about Kane’s organization and mission, visit By: Drea Barone Marshmallow’s Hope’s website here.
By: Drea Barone
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